Mine are partial to the Sunday paper. They like reading the comics (and prefer them unshredded).

Shaul

Mine like the "cups" and corners from egg cartons.

Brown paper vs white paper = whole wheat vs white bread? It's better for them?

boreal_wormer: my thoughts too. White paper is for my backyard composter, like all other things that's not good enough for the worm bins.

Brown paper bags are just juicer and tastier than white office paper... to me :-)

So how do you shred these such that there is some body to them?

I've been using a cross cut shredder for newspaper but have run out of my pre-shredded supply and I have a stack of grocery bags ready to go.

I like to put kitchen scraps in a brown bag, roll it up like a burrito and toss it in. It traps air for quite awhile. I agree with Otis, shredded white goes to regular compost (which becomes vermicompost) Best paper for mine is thick corrugated cardboard. Kinda like brown bread with jam (glue)

Happy worms smile a lot!

"So how do you shred these such that there is some body to them?" I mix with 1 X 1 inch egg cartons and coffee trays and also shredded TP tubes (toilet paper tubes) and also just very recently food boxes I have contacted the companies of to ensure the ink is fine. Sample of a reply I received today:

"We are so glad you took the time to connect with us. Your interest in Carr'sî crackers is appreciated and we are happy to share more information about the ink on our packaging with you. There is no lead in the inks that we use in our packaging. All of the inks are water based and contain no lead, other metals or solvents of any kind."

Also the mendopete burrito method. These also freeze well.

This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Wed, Mar 27, 13 at 1:58

I use mainly corrugated cardboard without printing and I use a strip shredder (not cross-cut). Even when wet, it still retains a certain amount of fluffiness to it. I also shred the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and towel paper. Occasionally I will also shred brown paper (if I come across it), but shredded corrugated cardboard is my primary source of bedding.

Shaul

When I needed to buy a replacement shredder a couple of years ago, the only strip shredder I found could manage only 5 sheets or so. I bought a cross cut that can cut 15 sheets.
I agree with shaul, the straight cut newspaper has more air pockets and easier to push aside come feeding time, or checking on/playing with them worms.

Will your shredder cut up corrugated cardboard, otis11?

My first shredder was a 5 sheet (strip). I developed a work-around for any corrugated too thick to fit. I found that many types of corrugated can be split to make them thinner. In other words, if it's 4 layers thick, then it could be separated to 2 layers (or even thinner). You don't have to be exacting with it, you're only shredding it for the wormbin, not using it for an art project. I also picked up a laminater on FreeCycle. The heating element was shot but that was fine because I wasn't using it as a laminater. The heavy rubber rollers helped to compress anything that wouldn't otherwise fit into the shredder. After 2 years the shredder motor died and I bought a new, 12 sheet strip. With the new 12 sheet the laminater has been retired, but I still try to find the thinnest corrugated I can in order not to overwork the motor. Like I said previously, I only use corrugated cardboard without printing so when I come across a likely candidate for the shredder I will check to see whether the layers can be separated. Using this method I have in storage (both shredded and un-shredded ) a couple years' supply. It seems like a lot, but if I wanted to expand my operation (by 5 bins), I still wouldn't lack for bedding.

Shaul

It will shred the thin corrugated CB like the ones used to ship toilet paper/kitchen towels in.